Do you depend on your computer for your living? If so, I'm sure you've thought long and hard about which hardware and software to use. I'd like to explain why I use generic "white boxes" running open source software. These give me a platform I rely on for 100% availability. They also provide a low-cost solution with excellent security and privacy.

I can see how someone who's well off would just prefer to pay others. But if it took you a week or two to earn $400 of disposable income, then in theory you might be better off spending a day to do it yourself.

Maybe you'd still prefer to spend more time at work than less time on tasks you don't like. But if your goal was to maximise family time, then you really ought to be factoring in how much time you'll need to use just to earn the money that will pay someone else to do it.

I guess it depends where you will use the $400 product.

Most of the time, when I need some piece of hardware, software of service that costs more than €100, it's for work. I consider that employers should be paying for work tools, and generally I have no issue convincing mine that considering how much I cost him per month, if something that is worth a fraction of that cost can truly make me more productive (which I have to demonstrate), he can pay for that.

Even if you're self-employed, the reasoning still holds: if fixing your stuff costs you more money, in the form of work time, than having someone else fix it for you, then you should probably choose the latter option.

(As an aside, this is also a reason why I am strongly anti-BYOD. In my view, this is just a way for your employer or IT department to have you pay for computer maintenance costs that they benefit from.)